Smelting-furnace.



Patented Oct. 28, I902."

w. F. 'HANNES, SMELTING FURNACE (Application filed July 28, 19 01.)

(No Model.)

v WITNE 555.-

m: uonms Pnzns 0a. womL-Tnn, WASHINGTON. D c.

i UNITED STATES? PATENT OFFICE. 1;;

WILLIAM FREDER oxI In s,; or DEMING, TERRITORY on NEW ivinxico;

IASSIGNOR or ONE-HALF TO ALTER J. BROWNING, or DEMING, TER- RITORY on 'NEw'MExIoo.

srncx IQATION orm ng p rt r. aste-r a b. 71 52,374, dated octobr 28', 1902.

Application filed July 26, 1901. S eria1No. 69,820 (No model.)

To all whom itmay' concern:

"Be it'known that 1, WILLIAM FREDERICK HANNES, a'citizen of-theUnited State's, residing at Deming, in theco'unty of- Luna and 5 Territory of N'e'w- Mexico, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Smelt ing-Furnaces; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention; such as will enable to others skilled inthe art to'which it appertains to make and use the same. I I

This inventionrelatesto improvements in smelting-furnaces, and especially to that type generally known as vertical 'or upright furnaces.

In the present practice'ofs meltingores now which passing upward through the fuel above.

it and being in a highly-heated state oxidizes a portion of the carbon of this fuel to form carbon monoxid, all according to well-known o principles. The gases thus formed areusually drawn off and, with the addition of air, are burned in various types of engines, stoves, 860., to recover some of the heat energy, or

they may be utilized in any 'other'suitable 5 manner. I

The objects of the invention are, first, to obtain a more perfect combustion than has heretoforebeen possible in the methods employed; second, to produce either a reducing 40 or oxidizing action in the'furnace upon the material under treatment at the will of the operator; third, tosupply sufficient fuel in the zone of fusion within-the furnace to fuse or smeltany of the material supplied therein 5 without previous calculation of the amount of fuel necessary; fourth, to subject the fluid or material to the action of the reducinggases before drawing the same from the furnace.

With these objects in view the invention consists in providing a furnace with one or more f uel-compartments extending downward from the upper part thereof, said compartment or compartments being in communication at itsor theirlower end orends with the body portion of-the furnace; further, in providingmea'nsfor introducing a supply of air into the furnace thus constructed in such man- :ner as'toeffct complete combustion, thereby obtaining great efficiency. I Further,the invention consists in the novel construction andarrangement of parts of a jfurnace,as hereinafter described and claimed. In the accompanying drawings, in which like' letters of reference indicate correspond- 6 5 ing parts throughout, 1 have illustrated one form of embodiment of my invention, it being understood that other forms of embodiment thereof may be employed without departing from the spirit of the invention, and these I wish it to be understood fall strictly within the scope thereof, and in these drawings- Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a furnace constructed according to my invention.

Fig. 2 is an end sectional View of the same, Fig. 3 is a plan sectional view taken on the line a; m, Fig. 1; and Fig. 4: is a similar view taken on the line y y of Fig.1.

Referring to the drawings, A represents a partition-wall extending downward from the upper part of thefurnace and dividing the same into a fuel-compartment B, separated from the main portion 0 of the furnace. This Wal'ldoes not extend entirely to the bottom of'thefurnace, but is supported upon the arch H, leaving the lower end of the fuelcompartrnent B open to discharge the fuel into the portion of the furnace above the hearth where the combustion takes place. The upper end of the compartment B is provided with means I? for supplying fuel-thereto, these being preferably of the bell and funnel type, as shown in thedrawings. A similar device 0 is provided for supplying ore to the main ,or body portion of thefurnace.

While I have shown but one fuel-compartment B in the drawings, it is to be understood that there may be several of these arranged along one side of the furnace or surrounding the body portion, or in any other I00 suitable manner, and in many instances some such arrangement will be desirable.

In order to supply air for supporting the combustion of the fuel,I provide twyers e,arranged below the fuel-compartment B and communicating with the air-supply pipe E, extending partly around the exterior of the furnace. The supply of air to this latter pipe is controlled by a valve D of'any suitable type, arranged to check or cut off the flow of air from the pipe E, leading from the source of the air-supply. The twyers e being arranged below the compartment B, as above stated, are adapted to admit the air, preferably under pressure, directly to the fuel, either before or just after the time it comes in contact with the ore under treatment in the body portion of the furnace. Beyond the vertical line of fuel-supply from the compartment B and below the arch H are arranged an additional set of twyers g, communicating with a supply-pipe G, arranged upon the exterior of the furnace in a similar manner to the pipe E, the supply of air to this pipe being also controlled by a suitable valve. These two supply-pipes E and G are independent of each other, and hence air supplied to the twyers e and. g is independently regulable. The twyers g are arranged so as to supply air to the ore under treatment at about the place where it contacts with the fuel-supply from the compartment B and also to the ore not in such contact. By this arrangement the combustion of the inflammable gases, such as carbon monoxid, issuing from the burning fuel may be regulated at will, so as to produce either a reducing or an oxidizing action within the furnace at the will of the operator. The

blast from these twyers also serves to oxidizeany carbon, sulfur, 'sulfurousvapors, or any other constituent material within the furnace. Below the twyers is arranged the hearth of the furnace, constructed in any well-known or preferred manner.

In operation the oxygen admitted through twyers (2 supports the combustion of the fuel and produces carbon dioxid, which passing through the adjacent incandescent carbon is reduced thereby to carbon monoxid. Ordinarily this carbon monoxid passes off and is afterward sometimes collected and utilized for heating purposes, whereas I admit thereto after it leaves the fuel area an additional supply ofoxygen through the twyers g, thus serving to burn the carbon monoxid within the furnace.

' As ordinarily constructed it is impossible to burn or oxidize any sulfur in copper, iron, or lead oresin blast-furnaces, because the sulfur unites with the metals and forms mattes, and therefore it has to be roasted before smelting. With my construction, foragiven quantity of air or oxygen introduced through twyers e an equal quantity is admitted through twyers g, and there being no fuel beyond the vertical line of the partition it,

leaving the fuel area, serves to burn it.

coming into contact with the carbon monoxid, If sulfur be present in the charge, an additional amount of oxygen or air is admitted through twyers g proportionate to the amount of sulfur, and the'su'lfur' will thereby be oxidized or burned in the furnace. Therefore by manipulating the valve F, admitting air to the twyers g, an oxidizing action is produced in any degree desired. If it be closed and air is admitted only through twyers e, the carbon monoxid would reduce any oxids and the furnace-gases would not dilfer essentially from those of any other furnace.

Although I have described a specific form of furnace embodying my invention, it is to be understood that the details of construction may be varied, added to, and certain of them omitted without materially departing from the spirit of the invention, and these variations I wish it to be understood fall strictly within the scope and purview of the invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. In a furnace, a partition extending from the upper part thereof part way toward the bottom, whereby a fuel-compartment, having communication at its lower end with the body portion of the furnace, is formed, means for supplying fuel to the fuel-compartment, means for supplying ore to the body portion, and means for supplying oxygen to the fuel below said compartment and to the ore in the body portion above the level of the firstnamed oxygen-supply, substantially as described. V

2. In a furnace, a partition extending from the upper part thereof part way toward the bottom, whereby a fuel-compartment, having communication at its lower end with the body portion of the furnace, is formed, means for supplying fuel to the fuel-compartment, means for supplying ore to the body portion, valve-con trolled twyers for supplying oxygen to the fuel below said compartment, and independently-controllable means for supply ing oxygen to the ore in the body portion above the level of the first-named oxygen-supply, substantially as described. v I

3. In a smelting-furnace, separate fuel and ore compartments merging together in the lower body portion, twyers below the fuelcompartment for supplying oxygen to support combustion of the fuel, additional independently-regulable twyers located above the firstnamed twyers admitting oxygen to the ore, substantially as described. v

4:- A furnace comprising separate fuel and ore compartments merging together in the lower body portion of the furnace, independently-controllable twyers for supplying oxygen to the fuel and to the ore at separate points within the furnace, independent oxygen-supply pipes without said furnace and connected with the twyers, and means for suplow the division-line .of the compartments, IO plying fuel and ore to the respective com partadmitting oxygen to the ore, substantially as ments, substantially as described. described.

5. In a blast-furnace, separate ore and fuel In testimony whereof I affix my signature 5 compartments merging together in the lower in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

body portion, twyers below the fuel-corn- WILLIAM FREDERICK HANNES. partment for supplying oxygen to support Witnesses: combustion of the fuel, additional twyers, G. B. BOSWORTH,

located above the first-named twyers and be- GEO. W. LEFFLER. 

